Why is anti-Semitism becoming so pervasive among young Americans?

Over the past five years, surveys have consistently shown that millennials and Gen Z are more likely to harbor anti-Semitic and/or anti-Israel sentiments than are older Americans.

Overall, 24% of Americans hold extensive anti-Semitic beliefs, according to a February 2024 survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)-a 4% increase since the organization’s 2022 survey.

The respondents were asked their opinion on 11 statements in reference to anti-Semitic tropes and Israel.

Millennials and Gen Z concurred with the most statements-5.37 for the former and 5.01 for the latter. Gen X agreed with 4.19 of the statements and Baby Boomers agreed with 3.06 of the statements.

Until the past decade or so, polls had shown that anti-Semitism had steadily been on the decline since the early 1960s.

Earlier this year, the FBI released data showing that Jews are the target of almost 70% of religiously-based hate crimes, despite making up only about 2% of the total U.S. population.

In August, a Harvard-Harris poll showed that 60% of Americans ages 18-24 sympathize with the terrorist group Hamas over Israel in the conflict in Gaza-whereas upwards of two-thirds of Americans over age 25 expressed support for Israel-including 89% of those over age 65.

Polls also have shown that younger Americans know very little about the Holocaust.

For example, a 2020 Claims Conference survey found that 41% of millennials believe that a maximum of 2 million Jews were murdered during World War II-a stark contrast with the actual figure, which is estimated at around 6 million. Among the total sample, 31% of the respondents said they agreed that 2 million or fewer were murdered.

The survey also found that nearly half of millennials-49%-could not identify a single concentration camp by name.

The realm of anti-Jewish hatred spans the fringes of both political spectrums.

On the far left, anti-Israel sentiment is the norm. Jews are viewed as “white” oppressors and rulers of an “apartheid” state akin to the former South Africa. Palestinians are viewed as “brown” victims and are therefore the “oppressed” party. Some segments of the Democratic Party support this theory, particularly the members of Congress who are part of the “squad.”

On the far right, some question whether Jews are even “white” at all. Those same individuals regularly engage in the promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish influence in banking, U.S. foreign policy, and American culture.

Some on the far-right even buy into the “white genocide” theory, which postulates that Jews are conspiring to destroy both Christianity and Western civilization via the promotion of non-white immigration.

Several of the most popular political podcasters frequented by young Americans subtly or even outright espouse either some or all of those beliefs. They include: Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, and Tucker Carlson.

Owens and Fuentes are considered outright anti-Semites, whereas Carlson denies being an anti-Semite despite having dabbled in what some describe as the promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and tropes. Earlier this week, Carlson hosted Fuentes on his show.

The danger of anti-Semitic beliefs is further compounded by the prevalence of social media platforms-where many young Americans get the bulk of their information and where outright lies often go unchallenged and are presented as “facts.”

In recent years, social media apps such as X and Instagram have become home to both anti-Semitic individuals and anti-Semitic bots that post anti-Semitic content under aliases.

Some of the bots are paid for by hostile foreign actors such as Iran and Russia. They attack anything and everything Jewish and/or Israel-related in hopes of influencing Western opinion.

So, how did we get here? What or who is responsible for the recent surge in anti-Semitism among young Americans?

“This generation has only known Israel under right-wing governments that have essentially decided that their appeal would be partisan, and that their appeal would be to the Republican Party and the evangelical base,” said Michael Berenbaum, who served as project director overseeing the creation of the United Holocaust Memorial Museum and later became the first director of the museum’s Research Institute.

“They have essentially written off liberal Democrats and a good deal of the liberal Jewish community,” Berenbaum added. “And consequently, we have moved from a bipartisan to a very partisan view of support for Israel.”

Berenbaum is now a professor in Jewish Community Leadership at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone out of his way to antagonize progressives, such as in 2015 when Netanyahu gave a speech to a joint session of Congress at the invitation of Republican lawmakers and against the wishes of then-President Barack Obama to discourage congressional approval of the administration’s Iran nuclear agreement.

Berenbaum said that this has, in part, contributed to increased anti-Israel/anti-Semitic sentiments among young Americans.

Berenbaum said he is somewhat skeptical of the statistic in the Claims Conference survey that suggests many young Americans do not know how many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

“I am a little bit of a disbeliever in that statistic precisely because I think otherwise it would not have cultural resonance. It would not quite work in the way that it does, including the sting of the accusation that Israel is committing genocide.”

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton Klein said he is not concerned about whether or not young people are familiar with the Holocaust.

“Not knowing anything about Auschwitz, to me it’s not a big deal. Most young people, and most people even-are not very well-informed about anything. They don’t know who their senators are. So, it does not surprise me or upset me that they have never heard of Auschwitz. I don’t think that is a big deal. They have never heard of anything. They probably have never even heard of Roosevelt.”

However, Klein said if polls showing young Americans support Hamas over Israel are accurate, that is cause for concern.

“Young people have very little knowledge. They don’t read newspapers. They don’t even watch the news. They get everything from social media. So, they don’t even know who Hamas is. They don’t know that Hamas’ charter calls for the murder of every Jew and the destruction of Israel.”

Klein said many Jewish leaders are to blame for not pushing back hard enough against the pro-Palestinian narrative.

“They don’t make it clear that there is no genocide. They don’t make it clear that there is no famine. They don’t make it clear that Hamas and Abbas and the Palestinian authority are monsters who pay Arabs lifetime pensions to murder Jews.”

Richard Vatz, a professor emeritus of political persuasion who taught at Towson University for nearly 50 years, said pro-Palestinian sentiments among young Americans can be attributed to both misconceptions and youthful rebellion.

“The ignorance, perhaps low intensity, of Gen Z, is part of the evident anti-Semitism therein; it is part of a “Palestinian Chic” tendency to metaphorically spit in the face of their elders and support a group they see as an underdog.”

Anti-semitism on the political left and the political right 

“We are a society in turmoil,” Berenbaum said. “We are also a society in which the left is anti-Israel, and elements of the right in the United States want a white Christian supremacist society. And that puts Jews on the out. Because it is not even using the words ‘Judeo-Christian,’ which is historically a misnomer. But it is using a white Christian society. Consequently, we have problems of the left and problems of the right. The one advantage in America is that the right and left cannot agree because they cannot agree on immigration.”

“It (anti-Semitism) is clearly worse on the left,” Klein said. “It is also on the right and growing on the right. But it is far worse on the left. All you have to do is look at Congress. The Democrats are left-wing and the Republicans are right-wing-more or less. Far more Democratic congresspeople are hostile to Israel than are Republicans. There are very few Republicans hostile to Israel.”

Klein said anti-Semitism on the far-right is growing in part because of the increasing influence of podcasters like Carlson, Owens and Fuentes.

Vatz said there are some differences between the anti-Semitism seen on the extremes of the spectrum.

“Anti-Semitism is more frequently found among those on the left, while a tiny percentage of the right is more physically dangerous and manifestly so.”

What is the solution to the problem? 

“Everybody says education, education, education,” Berenbaum said. “I’m a bloody historian. The problem is that of the 15 men who sat around the table at the Wannsee Conference, where the Final Solution was coordinated-eight of them had doctorates. They were what we would call the best and the brightest. So, it depends on what type of education.”

Berenbaum said proper educational efforts promote tolerance and respect for all people regardless of race, sex, creed, religion, nationality or sexual orientation.

Vatz said the solution to rising anti-Semitism is somewhat unclear.

“I’m not sure there is a solution in the near future, save more interaction with Jewish people, but soft anti-Semitism is unfortunately here to stay.”

Bryan Renbaum

Bryan is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government.

His work includes coverage of the election of Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions-as well as that of the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.

His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.